The more important data analysis gets the more companies would like to put together a team of data analysts. To hire and, more importantly, to keep good data analysts, it does not hurt to know that they are primarily motivated by “interesting projects”. Pie charts will not be enough.

There is a growing demand for data scientists around the world. The USA has only half the number of data scientists than the market demands. Moreover in 2016 it became the most wanted job on Glassdoor. This effect is also experienced in Hungary: it is becoming harder and harder to find the right persons for certain positions.

A good data analyst is not only open to the business problems but also willing to “get his hands dirty” by writing query/analytic lines of code. The true data analyst is not a “geek” or a “scientist” (in the strict meaning of the word) but someone who understands what results are the most effective to improve the business.

I don’t exactly know the situation around the world, but here in Hungary in my experience the most important skill is business understanding. If the candidate is receptive for the technology then learning it is much easier than improving business skills.

A good data scientist wants to see his/her work to drive actions and hates working in vain. An international corporation hired a lot of data scientists in Hungary with the promise of interesting projects but ended up losing most of its team because the projects came slower than expected from California. Also a lot of people left the Budapest team of an online service company who turned from B2C to a B2B strategy thus the importance of data analysis decreased.

A lot depends on the creative atmosphere therefore it is a particularly hard challenge to put together and motivate a small team of data analysts. If workload shifts toward “prosy” reporting tasks from business-critical analysis, then the valuable employees would consider leaving the company for something more interesting.

With a correct level of income the secret to keep the “data ninjas” lies not in the money but in diverse and inspiring projects.

Hiflylabscreates business value from data. The core of the team has been working together for 15 years, currently with more than 50 passionate employees.